Your Presence Still Lingers Here
by Jiggly33
Summary: Sick of everything, Ranma left the dojo. Akane is by herself, thinking of him. Could his abscence erase every feeling for him? Ra Ak moment, cute and short.


Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and all characters belong, as we all know, to the lovely Rumiko Takahashi. Long life for her!!

...

**Your presence still lingers here**

The sun entered through the window at certain dojo in Nerima. The light softly caressed the eyes of a young girl who slept on the floor. Her face looked pale, and her eyes were bushy from crying. Slowly, she opened her eyes, and tried to recognize the place she was in. Her memory immediately made its way into her head, a night full of tears, yet another one, during the past few months.

She had come to the dojo, with the absurd hope of him coming back, of watching him there, training as he always did. And once more, she got tired of waiting… Akane went back to her room and sat on her bed. Has it really been that long since Ranma had moved out of the house? Or has it just been a few days that seemed forever long? ... She couldn't tell.

Ranma had gotten sick of everyone around Nerima, his fiancés, his rivals, both their parents… everything had made him took off, without saying a word. He just left. He didn't say goodbye to anyone, and nobody knew where to find him. Not long after that, she had received a letter from Ryoga telling her he had seen Ranma training at the mountains. He had seen his tent, but there were no sign of him.

Akane shook her head trying to remove the panic she felt at the thought of Ranma being dead. Not being able to see him was like it though. She got up from her bed and went to the room once belonged to Ranma. Mr. Saotome had left too; he and his wife had gone to search their son. There was some of Ranma's stuff still there. Some fitness equipment, schoolbooks, some paper… Akane stepped forward and noticed there was something written in between the stack of papers. It was a note, scratched and erased a lot of times. She was having a hard time trying to read it:

_Akane, I must leave… can't stand it… fiancés… I'm sick of… useless… never told you… forgive me… impossible… couldn't say goodbye… didn't know how… forget everything. Ranma._

Akane held the paper against her chest and crumbled it in desperation. He had tried to leave her a note, but didn't know how… why didn't he try to give it to her? It would have meant so much to her. But he said she should forget everything… She dropped the letter and noticed a broken pencil lying next to something black that seemed very familiar. She leaned forward and saw it was Ranma's wrist band, the one he always wore. The other one wasn't around, he must have forgotten it… the idiot.

Akane watched the wrist band. She contemplated it for a while and then instinctively put it on. It looked so weird on her skinny and feminine wrist, not like Ranma's, so strong and manly… except when he turned into a girl, and it almost slipped to the floor. Akane smiled slightly at the thought, but then her attention went back to the wrist band on her arm. She put it against her cheek, rubbing it softly; absorbing its scent… it still smelled like him. That made her shiver, making her feel she was with him somehow. She slowly touched the wrist band once more, and placed a kiss on it, thinking of the Ranma's image wearing it and wondering where he would be at the moment… because she couldn't be with him, and kiss him and touch him instead of his wrist band. Now it was all that was left of him. She tried to ignore the sensation of the wrist band on her skin but she couldn't. She felt the rough material against her wrist; she couldn't stop feeling it, even though she really wasn't thinking about it. Suddenly, the sensations were different, and she felt warm skin touching her, filling her with peace and gentleness.

"I think this is mine" said the owner of the hand that had softly took hold of Akane's wrist. She opened her eyes, her heartbeat accelerated and she turned around as fast as she could to find herself staring right at Ranma's blue eyes, which were lost into hers. He was still holding her wrist, and Akane looked at him in shock, her brain and her heart weren't connecting… they never did when it came to Ranma. Her eyes began to water, and immediately Ranma's expression changed and he took Akane's hand and put it on his chest.

"No, please, don't cry. If I came back it was because the only thought of you being hurt was tearing up my soul."

Akane was shocked at his words, but with all of her strength she regained herself and placed her forehead on her hand to try to stop him from watching the few tears that still were running down her face. Ranma released her hand and hugged her. Akane could feel his strong arms protecting her, holding her so sweetly. But she couldn't help wondering if this was all a dream.

"I know that all of this may be surprising you. But I finally understood that I should have done this a long time ago. I shouldn't have left time go by, I shouldn't have let other people interfere with my decisions, let them manipulate my feelings. I shouldn't have been so scared…"

The sincerity on Ranma's voice shocked Akane even more. She was incredibly happy, and she wouldn't let him be the only one to talk. Finally, she showed her courage and hugged him. She loved him, and now she was finding out he felt the same way.

"Ranma… I'm so happy you came back; I thought I'd never see you again. I thought if that happened, I never had the courage to tell you my real feelings. I assumed you knew, but…"

Ranma placed a finger on Akane's lips to stop her, for her voice was trembling with effort to go on.

"I know… and I've known them long ago now. And I've come to tell you that I feel the same way. I love you and I want you just as much as you do, and I don't need to hear it, because I can see it in your eyes, and I can feel it in your embrace."

They both looked at each other for a long time, gazing far beyond their eyes, loving everything they see in each other, enjoying for the first time that they didn't need to pretend, that they could be themselves, ignoring everybody's expectations, without caring if someone agreed with this or not. Ranma interlaced his fingers with Akane's and leaned forward.

"So Akane… I'm here, let me see one of those smiles of yours that make the world look like heaven."

Akane blushed deeply but smiled at him, with all the tenderness she was feeling at the moment; and that was, for Ranma, the most beautiful smile he had ever seen from her, for he could see in it the glow in Akane's eyes, all the joy that was filling her, and he was part of that joy, he knew it because he shared it with her, he was feeling extremely happy that his Akane was still there waiting for him. He placed his hands on her waist, brought her close to him and said "That's exactly what I'm talking about…" and his lips met hers.

Akane kissed him back, letting him feel all the love and tenderness she felt for him since the first time he called her cute. For his part, Ranma didn't know exactly when he had fallen for her, when he couldn't stop fighting what he felt, but he knew it had been much earlier than he could imagine. They broke the kiss and smiled at each other.

"Well, Ranma… my love…" Akane said, blushing at this last thing, but she had always wanted to call him that. "Now, what are we going to do?" Ranma smiled at her and he blushed too at the sound of his new loving nickname. He took Akane's hand and silently walked with her out of the house. As they walked by Nerima's streets, Ranma finally told her "I don't know. Life has always a surprise for us. But this time, I'm going to make sure not to live it by myself."

Ranma and Akane walked rout less. Their destiny would decide what to depart them, for it had been, after all, the one that had brought them together.

...

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed it. I love writing these one shot fanfictions, with just some cute moments I would have loved to see. Please review! I'd love to see your comments


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